Imran Ahmad Khan: Tory MP tenders resignation after sex assault conviction

Imran Ahmad Khan was found guilty of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy, but says he will appeal against the conviction

An MP found guilty of sexually assaulting a teenage boy has tendered his resignation from the Commons.

Imran Ahmad Khan, who has represented Wakefield since 2019, had denied groping the 15-year-old at a party in Staffordshire in January 2008, but was convicted after a trial.

The Conservative Party expelled him "with immediate effect" following the verdict earlier this month.

The Treasury has now received Khan's resignation letter, the BBC was told.

Khan, 48, has continued to deny the offence.

He is awaiting sentencing and plans to appeal against his conviction.

However, he previously said it was "intolerable" for his constituents not to be represented properly while he went to the courts.

His decision to tender his resignation will trigger a by-election for his West Yorkshire seat, which had previously been held by Labour for 87 years.

Khan had a majority of 3,358 votes in 2019 in Wakefield, which is seen as part of the Conservatives' "red wall" of former Labour strongholds in the north of England.

If he received a prison term of more than a year, he would be automatically disbarred from being an MP, but MPs are not technically allowed to resign.

In order to go, they have to apply to the Chancellor for one of two titles that disqualifies them - either the Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Chiltern Hundreds or the Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead.

The role of Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead is currently occupied by former Conservative MP Owen Paterson, who resigned last November after he was found to have broken lobbying rules.

The current Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Chiltern Hundreds is former Batley and Spen Labour MP Tracy Brabin.

Ms Brabin had to apply in order to become West Yorkshire's first elected mayor.